Chapter Text
Macaque stares down at his face, disdain and resentment staring back at him. His fur is matted and dirty, a large ugly scar sits over a cloudy eye. His ears are ripped and torn, only one of the six lacks permanent damage. He growls and splashes the water shattering the reflection in the pond below him, as ripples fan out over a pond that is already behind him.
Walking upstream the river that flows into the pond should lead to some form of civilization. Salt lays heavy in the air, there should be a coast not far from here. Humans love living by water. Macaque freezes, there’s the ever-pungent smell of magic in the air.
Had he stumbled into a demon’s domain? Or a celestial’s territory?
No.
The smell was stale, whoever had been here last had been powerful, but it’s been awhile since they were here, Macaque was fine, for now at the very least. He had to keep moving, he had to get out of these woods.
Macaque generally avoided working with humans. They were fragile and mortal, and despite how hard Macaque tried not to, he had a tendency to get attached, despite humanity’s tendency to hate anything that’s different. But he had little choice in this instant. He needed food if he had any hope of rebuilding his power. Macaque was silently plotting to steal some food from whatever poor schmuck who’s home had the displeasure of being the first Macaque came across.
Macaque is pulled out of his thoughts as he comes to a road. There's a bridge over the water, having been carved from a smooth stone, though it strangely lacked the telltale signs of carving, strange. But stranger yet was the road itself, it was black and smooth, dull yellow stripes had been painted along the middle, they looked scuffed and faded from lack of upkeep.
Before Macaque could step onto the road, a deafening sound echoed out across the forest, as a strange metal wagon barreled across the road. Macaque stood there in shock for a moment, before running across the road at full speed to continue on his journey.
His heart was pounding, he couldn’t smell magic, what the hell was that? How long had Macaque been dead?
He shook his head, he needed to keep moving. Logic stated that a road would lead to civilization, but Macaque didn’t dare walk a road that had those monstrosities moving that fast down it. So he continued his course of walking upstream.
It didn’t take long to find more signs of civilization. He came across a camp, likely belonging to that of an adventuring party, but it’s hard to tell. There are chairs made of fabric and metal surrounding the beginning of a campfire. A human is lazily sitting in one of the chairs, muttering about something or other under their breath.
Before Macaque can make a grab for any of the supplies around the camp someone else walks in, a demon. Macaque freezes, he knew he smelled magic around here, but it had been faint, leading him to believe that there was no demons nearby.
The demon had large ears that were pointed like Macaques own, and a short fluffy gray tail wagging back and forth without a care in the world.
“Took you long enough,” The human groaned, turning to the demon with a look of annoyance, but it was casual, different from the hate fueled interactions Macaque normally had with humans.
Macaque ran off before he could hear any more of the conversation. He won’t be able to steal from them, not with a demon there. Macaque doubted that he was able to win in a fight with a strong human, let alone the average demon.
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Macaque stared out over the valley. The river flowing down through it, leading to a sparkling city in the distance. If Macaque strained all six of his ears he could hear the strange metallic clanging in the distance. He could hear the sound of demons and humans alike laughing and talking as the faint smell of magic fanned out across the entire valley as strange metal wagons rushed carelessly in and out of the city, leaving the smell of ash in their wake,
The city glimmered blotting out where stars once would’ve happily looked down on the world in the night sky.
His tail lashed, humans should be asleep at this hour, it would be near impossible for him to steal food with humans out and about like this. The few berries he had been able to forage left him feeling empty and hungry. He was immortal, yes, but eve an immortal needs to eat.
He growled, low and angry, bitter and weak, cold and hungry.
It was lost in the sounds of the city below.
—__—__—__—__—
People are staring.
Macaque registers that as soon as he steps foot into the city. He takes a deep breath. He saw his reflection in the water, he should’ve expected this. He just needs to get some food from somewhere and leave. He used his sense of smell to locate a building that was empty. It smelled dusty and dull. It’s not a great bet, but it’s worth a shot. He stepped through the doorway. He was thankful for his sharp sense of smell as he could sus out where people had and hadn’t been recently.
Macaque made his way through the building. It was a maze of identical hallways and rooms, most of which were left vacant. But Macaque was able to find some packets of food. They were packaged in a strange shiny film, they were stale and tasted unnatural in a way that Macaque couldn’t explain. The package read “Cereal bar” whatever that meant. Macaque left the wrapper on the floor, and took a deep breath.
With part of his strength restored, he could finally start working on the debt he had acquired by being revived.
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The great Sun Wukong stared down at the stone egg. It was nearly identical to the one he had been born from. It radiated strong magic, and Wukong knew that soon enough the egg would hatch, and inside would be another monkey demon like him and-
Wukong shoots down the thought as soon as he thinks it. It was Macaque’s fault, and the great Monkey King is happy he never has to see him again. Macaque is dead, and no idiot would dare abuse death magic to revive him.
Wukong wanted to keep this egg a secret, hidden deep within Flower Fruit Mountain. And he has been doing a damn good job if you asked him. No one other than Wukong and the various monkeys of the mountain knew about the egg. Wukong had even begun to set up a small nursery for the baby without anyone noticing.
It was going great! Of course it was! He was the great Sun Wukong! The Monkey King! What couldn’t he do?
So the days moved, quick and full of anticipation. Wukong was running back and forth, making sure everything was perfect. And, thanks to his speed and agility, it was quick, and all he had to do was wait.
And wait.
Gods, Wukong did not like waiting. He didn’t dare leave the mountain on the off chance that the stone egg would hatch while he was out. But he’s bored. He spends his days lazing around at the cliffside where he found the egg.
But when Wukong is forced to head away from the mountain he rationalizes that the egg won’t hatch, he’ll be gone for only a second with his intense speed. It’s fine.
When he returns the stone is gone.